Wire drawing



Patented Oct. 28, 1941 WIRE DRAWING f Charles Richard Horwedel,Lakewood,. Ohio,v assignor toThe Amcrican Steel and Wire Com-- panyofNew Jersey,. a corporation of New Jersey No Drawing... ApplicationMa'y.21, 1940,

Serial No.-336,441

: f51 Claims.

.This invention is a method of. drawinglwire by means ofv a wireWet-drawing machine. or its equivalent.

Such a machine includes abox containing two rotatively powered blockseach providing a plurality of drum, surfaces that. progressivelyincrease in diameter and a series of, diesQthe arrangement being suchthat the wire is continuously drawn successively through the dies whichperature that can be obtained at .a proper price being the one to. use.

The wire now coated with solid wax .then encounters the first die of themachineand there it melts due to the heat and pressure incidental to thedraw. Thus a very effectivelubrication action is obtained, thetransition of solid to liquid wax being in accordance with thetransition of no pressure to full drawing pressure as exertedsuccessively decrease in orifice diameter, the wire by the. die, the waxhaving decreasing viscosity going back and forth from block to block byway to continuously meet the increasing pressure, all of wrapping aroundtheir various drum surfaces, in accordance with goodlubricating.engineering. the diameter increases of the latter taking.care This result cannot be had by using soap in the ofthe elongation ofthe wire. Drawing speeds coolant, it being eliminated in the: practiceof are usually high and the machine includes a systhis invention; ifdesired, and plain water used tem for continuously bathing the wire,dies and instead. drum surfaces with a liquid coolant, the box of e aely upo a n s first die, t Wax the machine preventing coolant loss. Thecoolis solidified by the coolant of the machine so as ant is Water whichmay sometimes contain soap to be ready to repeat its above describedresult in solution to aid in reducing die wear. an at t next As n as heWi i being When stainless steel wire is drawn by such a worked by h n itis being successively machine the dies of the machine are drilleddiamelted as the wire draws through the dies and monds because the metalis hard and the diamsuccessively hardened as it goes from die to die.eter tolerance ranges of such wire are generally This follows when thecoolant is maintained at narrow. Sometimes other die material may be itsnormal temper re in m ir ums n used but in all cases it is expensive.Hence it is t h in h W h it y be necessary to desirable to prolong thedie life as much as pos p de for lowering the coolant temperaturebesible. The present practice of using soap in the W the p y of he o malmachine. This coolant leaves much to be desired in this direcmerely e nt t the o a t s e pa sed tion, the invention now to be described havingthrough a co ler f pri r ar d s n, it b in unproven a great improvementin actual practice, dBIStOOd that the 113113.]. machine provides for itbeing now in commercial use in connection Circulating t C a on inuously.with drawing stainless steel wire by wire Wet- Since the machine D rbathing t e drawing machines using diamond dies. Wire leaving the lastof the series of its dies, the In accordance with this invention,stainless Wax Coating is retained on the wire leaving the steel wireready for wet-drawing is run through machine This Coating is ofadvantage in many molten wax having a melting temperature not instancesto e ult mate user of the wire and less than 4 degrees ntjgrad Thearrange should not be removed in most cases. Thus it' ment used consistsof a pan in front of the wetp s sc atching of the wire when it is workeddrawing machine and heated by a Bunsen burner 40 by el cal springCoiling achines and the like. as required to keep the wax liquid, thewire travsummarizing the invention, it y be said to eling a sufficientdistance through the atmosbe, specifically Sp a ng, a method ofcontinuphere b f r entering the machine to assure its ously drawingstainless steel wire through a sesolidifying before encountering thefirst of the T195 of spaced a ond or other expensive dies, dies. Beeswaxis used successfully, its melting the method be ng characterized bycoatin th temperature being from 62 degrees to 70 degrees Wire With aSolid r g the wire succentigrade. Also applicable are Chinese wax with sve y through the dies, the Wax melting as a melting temperatureof from80 degrees to 81 e W draws through each die, and bathing degreescentigrade, parafiin with a melting temthe wire with a fluid coolant asit passes from perature of from 47 degrees to 52 degrees centidie to dieso as to solidify the wax melted in grade, bayberry wax melting at from40 degrees to 48 degrees centigrade, and carnauba wax with a meltingtemperature of from 83 degrees to 91 degrees centigrade. The choice isdetermined by economics, the wax with the highest melting temprecedingdies and keep it on the wire so it can function as an initially solidlubricant in succeeding dies, the wax having a melting temperature ofnot less than 40 degrees centigrade and being bathed by the coolant uponleaving the last die so the wire retains a wax coating to facilitate itsfurther processing or manipulation.

This is the invention as it is now commercially worked but itsprinciples may prove applicable to the solving of other troubles thanthat of rapid wear of diamond dies by stainless steel wire in thecontinuous wet-drawing process.

I claim: A

1. A method of drawing wire in a continuous wire wet-drawing machine,the method being characterized by coating the wire with wax prior to itsentering the dies of the machine, the wax having a melting temperatureresulting in its being successively melted as it draws through the diesof the machine and successively hardened by the liquid used by themachine to bathe the wire and dies during the travelof the wire from dieto die.

2. A method of reducing the wear on the dies of a continuous wirewet-drawing machine working hard metal wire such as stainless steelwire, the method being characterized by coating such wire with Wax priorto its entering the dies of the machine, the wax having a meltingtemperatureof not less than 40 degrees centigrade.

3. A method of continuously drawing stainless steel wire through aseries of spaced diamond or other expensive dies, the method beingcharacterized by coating the wire with a solid wax,

drawing the wire successively through the dies, the wax melting as thewire draws through each die, and bathing the wire with a fluid coolantas drawing the wire successively through the dies,

the wax melting as the wire draws through each die, and bathing the wirewith a fluid coolant as it passes from die to die so as to solidify thewax melted in preceding dies and keep it on the wire so it can functionas an initially solid lubricant in succeeding dies, the wax having amelting temperature of not less than 40 degrees centigrade.

5. A method of continuously drawing stainless steel wire through aseries of spaced diamond or other expensive dies, the method beingcharacterized by coating the wire with a solid wax, drawing the wiresuccessively through the dies, the wax melting as the wire draws througheach die, and bathing the wire with a fluid coolant as it passes fromdie to die so as to solidify the wax melted in preceding dies and keepit on the wire so it can function as an initially solid lubricant insucceeding dies, the wax having a melting temperature of not'less than40 degrees centigrade and being bathed by the coolant upon leaving thelast die so the wire retains a wax coating to facilitate itsfurther'processing or manipulation.

CHARLES RICHARb HORWEDEL;

